Prince William’s Recent Dig at the Press Hints He Agrees With Harry’s 'Spare' — At Least Parts of It
Prince William might not have cracked open Spare, but his latest swipe at the press suggests he may not disagree with everything his younger brother wrote. In a rare candid comment in The Reluctant Traveler, he spoke about the royal family’s long, bruised relationship with the media. William said, “I hope we don't go back to some of the practices in the past that Harry and I had to grow up in, and I will do anything I can to make sure we don't regress in that situation. I want to create a world in which my son is proud of what we do.”
The remark came as a surprise, as it was one of the sharpest critiques of the British press by William, especially since royal family members are expected to rise above it. What was more surprising was the use of the word ‘we.’ After years of being estranged and having a fractured relationship with his brother, William acknowledged that Prince Harry was not entirely wrong about their shared experience of growing up under the intrusive royal spotlight. The remark was an unspoken nod that perhaps on the matter of media excesses, they still stand united.
Harry’s war with the media has defined much of his post-royal life. He’s taken newspapers to court, accused Palace aides of trading information, and claimed that William struck "some favorable deal in return for him going ‘quietly,’" referring to an alleged settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s media company. William, true to form, said nothing publicly. But his new comments might be a hint that while he may not endorse Harry’s scorched-earth approach, he hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be young, hunted, and photographed constantly.
In the early 2000s, both brothers despised photographers, as mentioned by Harry in Spare. They were infamously called ‘The Wall,' the phalanx of photographers who would line up during family holidays to capture those forced smiles at ski resorts. Harry wrote how William once lied to their father, claiming he preferred to stay home and hunt partridges rather than join the family trip, only because he “couldn’t face the Wall.”
What’s often forgotten, however, is that William once took the fight to the tabloids long before Harry did. It was William who, in the mid-2000s, alerted police after learning from journalist Tom Bradby that he might be a victim of phone hacking. That complaint kicked off the first criminal investigation into the News of the World, resulting in convictions that eventually exposed widespread hacking across Fleet Street.
That early victory, though, may explain their differing styles. William fought quietly, got his result, and moved on. Harry fought loudly and hasn’t stopped. Over time, William’s role in that first battle has faded from public memory, overshadowed by his brother’s lawsuits and outspoken interviews. And now William has chosen to manage the media on his own; he does not hold press conferences, but only sometimes appears via carefully orchestrated appearances and friendly interviews that give him the space to talk without the sting. His conversation with actor Eugene Levy, where the comment was made, was precisely that.